The Dogs of Toronto Animal Services South

I've been trying to decide what to do with this blog and its Facebook page, whether or not to shutter the whole thing. It wasn't until I came across a post from Marc Ching who runs the Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation in California that I decided to keep this thing going at least for a while longer. Marc is doing something unimaginable and brave. I figured I could at least do a small part in helping Marc, and the many others who are out there daily saving lives, by spreading the word.

So, Pound Dogs continues with some changes. It'll focus more on advocacy which means more words, fewer pictures. While I'll continue to post dogs up for adoption, in the past, I only ever listed dogs I met personally, the majority being from Toronto Animal Services South, but this obviously won't be the case anymore. New listings will mostly be cross posts from people and organizations I trust.

I hope you'll bear with me through these changes. I'm not exactly sure what Pound Dogs will look like coming out the other end, hopefully something which manages to add to the conversation around the rescue of homeless dogs.

This is harder to write than I thought it was going to be - hence, I've been stalling. The south shelter of Toronto Animal Services is no longer adopting out dogs, leaving that service to the other three TAS locations (North, West, East).

Some of you have commented that there have been less dogs in adoption recently compared to a few years ago. Gone are those days when there were a dozen or more listed on the TAS adoption pages. It's a good problem to have, I suppose: a big city shelter not overflowing with homeless dogs.

Still, with fewer dogs available at TAS, fewer people will see the agency as a place to find their next canine companion. I'm sure dog adoptions will never completely be reorganized out of TAS but it's been a long while since they last took in big shipments of dogs from other jurisdictions. No more trucks of anxious and expectant pups from Quebec or Ohio. No more northern dogs from reserves. No more dogs from Serbia or Iran. These days, it seems to be local dogs only and many of those are transferred to rescues for them to rehome.

When TAS South first started taking on an expanded role in dog rescue about ten years ago, the Toronto Humane Society was a mess and there were no other comparable large scale organizations in the city. Now, the THS is more stable and rescues like Dog Tales are doing an admirable job of saving homeless dogs both local and from abroad. So, the rescue environment in Toronto has evolved and maybe the vacuum left by the closing of dog adoptions at TAS South and the decrease in TAS dog adoptions in general won't be greatly missed by the public.

I'll miss it, though, as will the other volunteers I'm sure. TAS South had a good run. These last nine years, spending time with the dogs, taking their photos, writing about them, maintaining this blog and the Facebook page - these were things which anchored me. It was a commitment I always looked forward to no matter how hectic life got. I never found anything more grounding than spending time with the dogs. They always chased away any weariness from the day and enriched me with an emotional authenticity hard to find in our selfie dominated culture. A million likes means nothing to a dog who licks your hand in exchange for some simple human affection.

I always smiled seeing the elation in their faces before every walk. I was swept up in wonder witnessing dogs touch grass for the first time after living their whole lives in puppy mill cages. My sense of hope was renewed when a tail would start to wag after years of abuse, so resilient and still trusting. And there was sadness too in holding the sick ones or the old ones for the last time before they were delivered from their suffering.

I think I must've photographed over a thousand dogs in my years at TAS South and I'm sure there were hundreds more I missed and all but some very few found homes. A huge thanks to all the staff, especially the ones who cared beyond what was mandated by work, the volunteers who shared their time and made the days the dogs spent at the shelter more bearable, and especially to James Maclean who worked tirelessly, and still does, to save lives.

All good things come to an end. Dog adoptions at Toronto Animal Services South is now closed.

A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------